The Story

“Serve, PR is dedicated to providing immediate relief to the people of Puerto Rico. Our mission is to support the thousands of Service industry professionals affected by the hurricanes, and to help rebuild all aspects of the hospitality industry, promoting growth, community and sustainability for the future of Puerto Rico.”

In the interest of transparency, all funds raised go directly into supporting the programs outlines below. Serve PR has no employment opportunities. We are an organization operated 100% by volunteers.

Our initial relief efforts have been focused on acting as primary or supplemental relief to people in need, delivering clean water and food to unreached areas of Puerto Rico. We have used the service industry as an engine to run necessary relief efforts where there have been none. During these relief missions we have also been identifying areas and locations for our future hospitality partnerships.

We have divided the Island into 5 main quadrants: San Juan, Ponce, Fajardo, Aguadilla, and Aquas Buenas (as we go through the reconnoissance process these may change). In each of these main quadrant cities we will identify a hospitality location that can, with some support, be brought back into service. We will fulfill the needs (i.e. generator, water purification, repair, supplies, funding) to get them up and running. This location will in turn act as a community location for donation drop offs, water collection, phone charging and as a satellite kitchen for our efforts to support the growing need for delivery of food, clean water resources, and additional donated goods to outlying communities. The efforts coming out of San Juan have been an amazing beginning to what needs to become a more sustainable network for the Island as a whole. With these first 5 quadrant cities and locations up and running, we will create a relief effort with a further reaching impact. These locations will also facilitate community outreach to identify potential future partners to further extend the reach of this program.

Largely, the service industries employees have been out of work and not receiving wages for, at this point, 5 weeks, longer for many located in San Juan and impacted by Hurricane Irma. Many of these workers are in need of direct financial relief. We have fundraising efforts in place specifically to bring financial relief, where necessary and via an application process, to these disenfranchised workers. Puerto Rico’s economy has already suffered the impact of a great diaspora. By having programs in place to alleviate the financial struggle of waiting to return to work, we hope to prevent a further diaspora talent.

Relief is the first stage of operations post disaster such as Hurricane Maria, repair and rebuild have to be on the horizon for further economic disaster to be prevented. Consider that roughly 30% of the employment of Puerto Rico is within the hospitality industries. Consider further the various industries whose livelihoods depend on a thriving hospitality industry. By using service establishments to create a sustainable network of relief, we are also supporting businesses to stimulate the local economy.

Please consider partnering with us in our effort to rebuild Puerto Rico.